Glimpses, Mundane and Otherwise
by Golden Snowflake
Summary: Snippets of the lives of a group of neighbors, all intertwined far more than anybody realizes. (Chronological drabbles about my sims in TS4.)
1. Chapter 1

≠ One

* * *

The clatter of her boots echoes through the narrow hall as she hurries into the room, coming to an abrupt stop and looking everywhere for what she has lost.

"Have you seen my-"

The blonde hesitates, waiting for any indication that the man with his back turned is listening. She clears her throat and tries again.

"Kevin, have you seen my-"

"Nametag?"

The redhead spins around in his seat, twirling the dull pencil he holds. Its plastic loop is stuck beneath the eraser, sending the tag swinging around the pink smudge and throwing the violent glare of the fluorescent light back in the woman's face. Kevin stares at her in disinterest.

"I took it off on my lunch break," she explains quickly. "I just realized I didn't have it."

Kevin meets her wide-eyed gaze without enthusiasm. She stares at him and he twirls it around his pencil.

"Can I _have_ it, please?"

"Oh," he utters. "Sure."

She steps toward him when it becomes apparent that he isn't going to move, and he stops swinging the nametag around with reckless abandon. She gives a brief, frazzled smile, extending a hand to take back the rectangle of plastic.

Kevin withdraws his arm and moves the tag away.

"Can I-" The frantic intensity on her face hardens, her voice reshaped with the faintest hint of irritation. "Kevin, can I please have my nametag? _Now?_"

"Of course," he drawls. He extends the pencil once more. Too far behind to scrutinize the redhead any more, Gina wiggles the loop until it comes free. His bored gaze burns into her face, mocking, the entire time.

"Okay." The blonde is talking more to herself than anyone. She fastens the tag over her breast pocket and straightens the wrinkles out of her apron. "Thank you."

"Mmmhmm."

Gina turns to hurry back into the kitchen, pauses, and looks back at the man twenty years her junior. Green eyes hold her gaze with silent amusement.

She blinks, shakes her head, and rushes back to work.

* * *

So I made all of the Ed Edd n' Eddy characters in The Sims, as well as myself and my mom. What do I discover after playing a different household for a few days? That my mom and Kevin are not only coworkers, but "hot and cold" romantic interests! _That's_ not weird at all.


	2. Chapter 2

≠ Two

* * *

"So when one phosphate is separated from the molecule, it goes from ATP back to ADP."

Levia squints, scribbling down her answer. "Okay…"

"Because it's adenosine _tri_-phosphate, then one is removed, making it adenosine _di_-phosphate. Does that make sense?"

Her nose scrunches up for a fraction of a second and she throws her head back. "_Ohhhh_."

Dib grins. "You get it?"

"_Yes_," the girl intones excitedly. Her eyes gleam and she gives him a delighted look. "That's why the ATP is the larger one and ADP is the smaller. I _get_ it!"

"Isn't it crazy?" The man plops down beside her, his white teeth flashing as he gazes at the teenager. "Life is so complex. Our cells are going through these processes all the time that we can hardly wrap our heads around. It's just unbelievable."

"It really is." She nods sheepishly, her bangs fluffing over her eyes. "I wish we didn't learn it all so fast. You don't really have time to think things through before you have to move on to something else." Her delicate fingers rest on the cover of her workbook after she closes it. He watches her stare self-consciously at her lap and smiles.

"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for, kid."

"Thanks." Levia bites her lip. She slides her completed homework onto the coffee table and folds her hands over her knees. "Mom knows all this stuff, but I'm almost embarrassed to ask her. I don't like her knowing that I'm still learning things that are so … so basic, I guess."

When the slim, spectacle-clad man is silent, the girl glances up to find him watching her in fascination.

"You know," he says finally, "you might just be weirder than me."

The blonde lasts all of two seconds before bursting into laughter.


	3. Chapter 3

≠ Three

* * *

They purchase the house already furnished and leave everything behind except for their clothing and the important documents. There are pleasant, decent-sized rooms for Cassandra and Alexander, and the sunlight pours in the windows like a pale waterfall. It's around five in the morning when they get there, and the kids disappear into two of the bedrooms. They're tired and scared, which only comes through as a solemn, wide-eyed quietness that is not all that unlike their usual demeanors.

Bella wanders through the kitchen and the living room in the dress she put on yesterday for the party. The house is so inviting and clean. She doesn't know what to do with wooden floors and furniture that isn't made of satin.

She enters the small bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom and closes the door quietly behind her. It feels like she's in a public space; somewhere open and unsafe. She closes the plastic lid of the toilet and sits down on it. It warps under her weight, making a popping sound.

Bella puts her head in her hands and cries.

Sleep is strange and fitful, pulling her deep into dark, suffocating spaces full of cold walls and guttural, frightening sounds. She wakes up a few times, distinctly wondering once why she's in a hotel, wondering another time who exactly she is.

A small hand and a familiar, warm smell wake her.

"I'm hungry," Alexander says meekly. He's dressed in a sweater vest and dark pants which don't quite match. "Cassandra is in the shower."

She climbs out of bed and balks at the feeling in her head, like there's a thick clump of lead shoved into her skull. Her phone is on the nightstand (when did she take it out of her pocket?) and a blur of missed calls lights up when she pushes the home button. Her vision is too blurry to read the senders' names. She's grateful for it.

"I'll order groceries," she mumbles to him. He nods awkwardly and walks out into the hall.

When she finds no one in the small sitting room near the entrance, the woman wanders to the family room-area to find her daughter reading something. It strikes her as odd that there was a full bookshelf left in the house, but she remembers the broker mentioning one when she called to see how soon she could move in. Her daughter glances up at her, smiling briefly in greeting. Without the buffer of extravagant decorations and Mortimer's benevolent smile, she's not sure what to say.

Alexander pads in and sits on the sofa across from his sister and kicks his feet absentmindedly. The clock above the television reads 11:40 AM.

She sits down next to Cassandra and asks, "Do you still want to cut your hair short?"


End file.
